Season 2, Episode 16 – The Best We Can Do

It’s Richard’s first day back at Westside after he negotiated his job back in Season 2, Episode 15. Amy and Gina run into him in the elevator. They thoroughly ignore him and roll their eyes. After they step off the elevator, Amy directly confronts Richard. She can’t believe he sent her so many texts, apologizing and wanting to make it up to her, and then he totally threw her under the bus to get his job back. Richard says she never responded to his texts.    

TJ and Sonya tell Jake their suspicions about Joan’s health problem. Jake finds Joan as she’s about to scrub in for surgery. He tells her that people have noticed things and think she’s sick. Joan is not pleased with the insinuation, but agrees to bow out of the surgery she was just called in for, saying she has a full plate of other things to do today. Later in the day, as Joan scrubs in to operate on Richard’s patient when no one else will, Jake confronts her a second time. He’s more insistent this time. Joan has had enough and calmly dresses him down. She says she would never endanger a patient and reminds Jake about the code he covered up for Amy, referring to her as his paramour. Joan says she knows they are still together, but she’ll let it go because he makes Amy happy.   

Amy and TJ treat a famous malpractice lawyer and have fun giving him a hard time throughout the episode. 

Richard checks in with Joan at the start of the workday, and Joan makes it clear that she does not like or trust him. She assigns Sonya to work with him today. Sonya is not very friendly to him. However, when she makes a mistake during a procedure, Richard stands by her. Amy also looks out for Sonya when Amy’s malpractice lawyer patient hears about the mistake Sonya made during her patient’s procedure. When Joan questions Sonya about what happened, Richard stands up for her and praises how she handled the situation. Sonya thanks him for doing that, but isn’t convinced that his intentions were pure. 

To save their patient, Richard and Sonya ask Joan to perform a risky surgery (the one Jake tried to stop her from doing). The surgery is successful. Afterward, Sonya, TJ, and Jake discuss what to do next about Joan. Clearly, she wasn’t deterred when Jake confronted her. Jake tells TJ and Sonya not to worry about it anymore. He’ll deal with it. 

In flashbacks to eight years ago, we see Amy, Michael, Richard, his wife Victoria, Gina, and her ex-wife playing games and having drinks at Richard’s house. It’s clear they are all great friends. As they play the game Celebrity, we find out that Danny’s favorite cartoon character is Dora the Explorer. Amy and Richard are called the most competitive people in the room. Richard is on-call and gets a call about one of Amy’s patients. Amy and Richard end up at the hospital together because Amy felt responsible for her patient. Richard defers to Amy on the patient’s treatment, even though he doesn’t agree with her. The patient ends up dying. Richard comforts Amy, and we see more evidence of their strong friendship. Richard tells Amy, “It doesn’t get easier. We just get stronger.” This is exactly what Amy said to Hannah in Season 2, Episode 10 after the teenage boy died due to the hack. 

Michael is taking care of Simon in his office for the day because Nora’s mom is sick. Gina walks in and is thrilled to see Simon. Michael is surprised she isn’t angry with him about the affair revelation. Gina says she knows what it was like in that house (back when Amy was grieving after Danny’s death). Gina asks how things are with Nora now. Michael tells Gina the marriage is over. It was inevitable as soon as Amy looked at him after her accident. He speculates that Amy is with Jake again and wants Gina to confirm it. He says he saw them at Jake’s father’s funeral and knew… Gina doesn’t deny it, which all but confirms it. Gina asks Michael to have dinner with her later, and he happily accepts. 

Amy goes to Michael’s office to warn him about Sonya’s mistake and the malpractice lawyer hovering like a vulture. She is happy to see Simon and asks to pick him up. Michael is clearly smitten by Amy holding a baby. While in his office, Amy figures out that Michael is talking to a headhunter and asks what’s going on. He’s says he’s keeping his options open, given everything that’s happened at the hospital recently (Richard’s downfall as Chief, the hostage crisis / UNOS fallout, and the hack). Amy looks truly disappointed and tells Michael that the hospital needs him. Later in the episode, Michael takes an interview in his office and learns that his reputation isn’t great due to recent events. The potential employer says it’s better for Michael to lay low and stick it out at Westside for a while. 

Leaving work, Richard happens to walk into the same elevator as Amy. He turns to get out, but she tells him it’s fine. He tells Amy that he hopes she gets all of her memories back. She doesn’t answer and walks away. 

Gina and Michael are out to dinner as planned earlier in the day. Gina says seeing Simon almost makes her rethink her life choices (referring to having kids). Gina jokes that Michael is due for a midlife crisis. He says may need a bachelor pad and a fresh start. 

Amy walks up to her condo door and finds Jake waiting for her. She makes a joke and goes to kiss him, but his face tells her something is wrong. He says they need to talk about Joan.